


Jenny & Claire watch their men work in the fields

by bonnie_wee_swordsman



Series: Imagine Claire and Jamie Prompts [3]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: 500 words or less, Book 2: Dragonfly in Amber, Mini-Fic, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 16:50:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7582096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonnie_wee_swordsman/pseuds/bonnie_wee_swordsman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mini-fic prompt (~500 words) written for Imagine Claire and Jamie (tumblr).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jenny & Claire watch their men work in the fields

  
“You’re right,” I said to Jenny, as she herded the last of the foul-smelling goats into the broch. 

“I tend to be,” she replied with a grin, coming to join me at the crest of the hill, “but what about, just at present?” 

I pushed the hair out of my eyes and gestured to the potato fields below. “Jamie and Ian.” 

They were walking side by side between the furrows, Ian to Jamie’s right. Guarding each others’ weak side. 

“Aye,” said Jenny, smiling fondly down at them both, resting one hand on her back and the other on her growing belly. “Like they were made that way.”

“I’ve never had that,” I said, wistfully, crossing my arms. “No siblings. No lasting childhood friends. A few lovely but shallow friendships when I was a nu…when I was in France, long ago. Not even a parent who knew me that way; not really.”

I watched Ian playfully shove Jamie into a ditch and smiled, though the expression seemed to float atop the hollow ache in my throat. “Someone who…knew my weaknesses, better than I myself did…let alone cared enough to actively protect me from them.”

How many times in my upbringing had I longed for such a friend? Uncle Lamb was a wonderful guardian, and an affectionate one; but he hadn’t known me in that way, nor had our nomadic lifestyle lent itself to the formation of important relationships elsewhere. I’d been a solitary child, by consequence, accustomed to playing alone. It was the world I’d known, and had made the most of it; but I could still recall the deep loneliness of it. Acute and ever-present, like a watermark on the pages of my memories. 

“Ye never had that _before_ , ye mean,” Jenny said, matter-of-factly. 

She reached down and took my hand, and for a moment, I felt extremely awkward. _Was she offended that I hadn’t considered her as an obvious exception to my appallingly maudlin statement?_ As much as I loved Jenny, I didn’t think we had yet reached the level of knowledge and intimacy we had been discussing. I scrabbled frantically in my mind for a proper rapprochement.

But she wasn’t even really holding my hand. She was holding up my silver ring.

“ _He_ guards your right,” she said, fervently. “Always.”

I felt tears begin to prickle.

“And I ken you protect his too, Claire.”

And while perhaps the two of us would never reach the same depth of love and synchronicity as that of our men in the field below, I walked down the hill counting myself very blessed indeed to have Jenny Murray as my sister.


End file.
